Sweet Child of Mine
by xCleverFox
Summary: A routine hunt leads to a far from routine and very unexpected discovery. How is this strange child, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere, going to change the lives of Dean and Sam forever? Stay tuned to find out. OC involved, you have been warned. Rated T because there is no way to avoid cursing in this. R&R please and thank you.
1. An Unusual Hunt

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of the characters from the show. There will however be OCs in this and those I do own.

Ch 1: An Unusual Hunt

"Dean I swear to God I'm gonna…" Sam Winchester couldn't keep himself from saying in frustration as his older brother continued to go on and on and on about another pointless and annoying topic. The two of them were on a hunt, investigating strange occurrences in a backwater town, and thus far they'd had exactly zero luck finding anything. And Dean, being Dean, couldn't manage to keep his mouth shut for more than five minutes at a time which was starting to grate on Sam's nerves.

"Shh…" Dean said, holding up a hand to silence his brother.

Which only served to further annoy Sam.

"What the hell do you mean shh? You're the one that won't shut up," Sam said before noticing the look that had appeared on Dean's face, which served to gain his compliance. He knew that particular look, it was the serious look that only a hunt could bring into his brother's green eyes. Apparently the pain in the ass had actually heard or seen something, Sam closing his mouth and looking around.

It was true that Dean had been annoying his brother non stop since they arrived here, completely on purpose and because it amused him, but the moment that he heard something rustling around in some bushes he was all business. He liked to have a good time as much as the next person but he took his job seriously and given that it was about midnight and pitch dark outside he was very interested in what was currently making that noise.

"If it's a cat I'm going to laugh at you," Sam told his brother once he had picked up on just what it was that had managed to capture his brother's attention. He wasn't entirely sure if this was anything significant but just like his brother he was immediately on the alert simply because in their line of work it was just flat out stupid not to be ready for anything.

And yet neither of them was ready for what happened next.

The leaves of the bush began to move more, as though something was trying to escape from the foliage, and that caused both Dean and Sam to draw their weapons. Better to be safe than sorry even though they didn't even know if the weapons they were wielding would work against whatever it was that was attempting to escape from the bush.

Or if it was anything supernatural at all.

It really could just be a stray animal that was trying to find food or something.

All the same they knew that there was something unusual going on in this town, there had been too many reports of strange phenomena for it to all be a coincidence. So the brothers stared at the leaves, on the alert, and they both ended up gaping when a small child emerged from beneath the leaves, a disgruntled look on his face.

"Well…it's not a cat," Dean said sort of helplessly as he looked down at the little boy that had plopped down and was now staring up at them through bright and inquisitive blue eyes.

"No…" Sam said, his gaze focused on the kid as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. "Dean what's a kid doing out here in the middle of the night?" Even as he asked this question he looked around to see if there was anyone else around.

Vaguely thinking that this might be a trap or something.

Perhaps not a thought that most rational people would have since as far as he was aware there wasn't anyone in this town that knew them. Still experience had taught him to always expect the worst and since their enemies had an uncanny knack for finding them the younger Winchester wasn't going to rule out a trap despite this being a really weird way to trap someone.

"No idea," Dean said as he knelt down to get a better look at the child.

"Owie…" the little one said as he pointed toward the man that was now kneeling in front of him, not seeming to be the least bit scared as he faced the stranger.

"Huh?" Dean questioned, his gaze going in the direction that the child had pointed and he noticed that he'd managed to somehow reopen a wound that he'd gained in their last hunt. He had no idea how he'd even done it nor why it was that the child opted to focus on that, his gaze going back to the kid. "Yea, owie, but it's not a big deal kid. Look, where'd you come from? Where are your parents?" Dean ended up firing off questions faster than the kid could answer, assuming he was even going to answer, but he really wanted to know what was going on.

"Owie," the boy just repeated, the little brown haired child scooting closer to the man and then reaching out toward the wound.

"What are you doing kid?" Dean asked as he gazed at the kid, completely confused by this kid's strange actions. Now he didn't have much experience with kids, just with Sam when they were both little, but even he knew that this was not the way that normal kids behaved.

"Owie…" the boy repeated for a third time, his blue eyes going back to the man for a moment before he once again reached a finger out toward the bleeding cut.

Dean started to move his arm away but then something happened that both shocked him and kept him from moving out of the way.

The kid's finger started to glow.

"Dean…" Sam said, his own gaze glued to the kid's now glowing finger.

Staring as though transfixed Dean watched as the boy touched his injury with his finger and it healed before his very eyes. It wasn't painful, there was just a feeling of warmth spreading out from the spot where the child touched, and then the cut was gone. There wasn't even a scar to show that it had been there, which completely shocked Dean.

"Well…I think we may have found the source of all those stories," Dean said as the little boy pulled his finger away and then looked up at him with a smile. "Fuck…" he said without thinking, this about as bad of an outcome as they could have encountered.

He hated all things supernatural, or so he maintained, but this was a kid.

"Man we can't gank a kid," Dean said with a frustrated groan, his gaze still focused on the boy.

"Dean I think maybe we should focus more on finding out exactly what he is… because there are a few options for healing powers and I don't really like any of them," Sam said, his gaze shifting back and forth between his brother and the brown haired boy that was still sitting quite contentedly on the grass.

"Maaaan," Dean whined, looking at his brother with something of a helpless look.

"Don't look at me," Sam said with a shake of his head, having experience with those looks from his brother and knowing what it was that Dean wanted from him.

"I don't know anything about kids," Dean said before groaning when the kid actually lifted his arms in that classic little kid 'pick me up' gesture. "Great, it picked me," Dean said as he picked the kid up, standing as he did so and sort of holding the little boy at arm's length, gripping the kid under the arms and just leaving him to dangle.

"Dean…" Sam said in a slightly admonishing tone.

"Fuck!" the little boy announced rather happily, squirming and giggling despite the way that he was currently being held. He didn't seem to know or care that the man holding him at arm's length clearly didn't know anything about kids.

Dean did at least have the good graces to look sheepish when he heard the word that escaped the kid's lips. "Um…no, you shouldn't say words like that kid," he said, sounding as awkward as he looked as he explained this. "That word is a bad word."

He felt so weird saying that but he did at least realize that he shouldn't be teaching the kid bad habits. Yet even as that particular thought entered his mind, him being a bad influence on this strange child, he realized how weird that really was. He didn't even know what the kid was or whether he was a danger and here he was worried about what sort of language the kid was using.

"Dean we should probably get out of here before someone shows up and starts asking a lot of questions we can't answer," Sam said, knowing with their luck that was exactly what would happen and then they'd end up on the hook for kidnapping or something. Or else the kid would show off his powers more and then things would get really tricky really fast.

All in all it was best if they avoided all of those scenarios.

"Right," Dean said, turning around with the kid still held as far away from him as he could manage. The man took a few steps forward and then paused, looking at the kid and then looking a bit stricken. "What if it makes a mess in my car?"

"Dean…suck it up," Sam said, rolling his eyes and making a 'get moving' gesture with his head toward where they had left the Impala.

"Maaaan," Dean whined again as he started walking toward his precious baby.

"Maaaaan," the little boy mimicked, again giggling and seeming to be having a good time despite the odd way that he was being carried. A bright smile was on the child's face and he giggled and squirmed the entire way to the car, the child blinking a few times as he was placed in the back.

Sam ended up smiling when he heard the little boy mimicking his brother, thinking that was pretty hilarious. Mainly because Dean didn't seem to know how to react to it and currently looked so lost and confused, which he had to admit was funny to him. Sure he cared about his brother more than anything else but that didn't mean that he didn't delight in the older man's torture the same way that any brother would.

"Careful Dean or else you're going to teach him all sorts of bad habits," Sam said as he got into the passenger's side of the Impala.

"I'm not going to teach it anything…because we're going to figure out what it is and then figure out what to do with it," Dean said, still looking a bit unnerved as he got behind the wheel of his car. His green eyes shifted to the spot on his arm where the cut had been, still more than a little bit freaked out by the fact that it was gone and that the child in the back was responsible for that. He tried to brush that aside however as he started the car so they could head back to the motel they were currently calling home.

The rumble of the Impala's engine was immediately met with a whining nose from the child.

"Dude, I don't think he likes your car," Sam said.

To which Dean gasped and said, "Blasphemy."

The little boy in the backseat continued to fuss and whine, his blue eyes slightly wider than normal as he gazed around.

"Dude, you're okay," Dean said to the fussing kid in the backseat of his car. "We're not walking to the motel so you're gonna have to deal with it until we get there."

"Way to go Dean, tell the toddler to deal with it," Sam said with a shake of his head, sort of snorting at this entire exchange.

"There are worse things I could do," Dean said in response to his brother's words, his eyes losing focus for a moment before he snapped himself out of that train of thought and focused on what he needed to do now. "Look, we're going to go to the motel and then I'm gonna see if Cas will maybe show up and help us figure out what the hell's going on with this kid."

"You think he'll come?" Sam asked when Dean brought up the angel.

"Probably…maybe, hell I don't know but it's worth a shot," Dean said as he once again focused his gaze on the road ahead of him. He attempted to block out the noise that the kid was making in the back, humming Metallica in an attempt to drown it out since there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it save for get them to their destination as quickly as possible.

"That's reassuring," Sam said, knowing that it was hit or miss with the angel whether he came when Dean tried to summon him.

"It's the best I've got," Dean said, raising his voice a little to combat the fussing that was still going on in the back of the car.

Sam accepted that as truth and fell silent, his thoughts shifting to what they were going to do with the kid now that they had him. He was occupied with that internal musing for the rest of the drive, the younger Winchester heaving a sigh of relief when they finally reached the motel where they were staying.

"Okay, next goal is get the kid inside without looking like kidnappers," Sam said as he got out of the car, waiting for his brother and then gesturing toward the back. "Get him out, we can't just leave him in the car," he prompted.

"I know, he might mess up my baby," Dean said, taking a deep breath as though to prepare himself for this and then opening the door.

The fussing from the child immediately stopped as his innocent blue eyes shifted again to the man that had held him before. And just as he had done earlier the little one lifted his arms in that 'pick me up' gesture, clearly wanting out of the car.

Feeling a tiny bit less awkward than he had the first time Dean picked the kid up and then used his hip to close the car door before turning back to his brother. "Go open the door," he ordered, falling into step behind Sam as the younger but taller brother lead the way to their motel room. It didn't take long to get the door open and once it was Dean all but rushed inside, depositing the kid on one of the beds, Sam's of course, and then sort of staring at him.

"Now what?" Dean asked, looking over at Sam with a questioning look.

"No idea," was the reply that he gained from Sam, the larger man looking sort of lost. "I mean I wouldn't really know what to do even if the kid was normal, which he clearly isn't. We may have bitten off more than we can chew with this one."

"Well there's a shocker," Dean said with a roll of his eyes, thinking that they quite frequently bit off more than they could chew. Hell it was like an ongoing theme with them. Like a bad song that got stuck in your head and you couldn't get it out. Sighing again and face palming Dean closed his eyes and said, "Oh Castiel, we could really, and I put heavy emphasis on the really, use a little help down here right now. So if you could see fit to get your feathery ass down here that would be great."

Sam just ended up snorting, always amused by the way that his brother attempted to summon the angel.

Looking puzzled in response to what the man was saying the little boy sort of stared at him for a moment before blinking a few times and then rolling over onto his stomach. Once on his stomach the child slowly worked his way off the bed and onto his own two feet, the little guy looking around with curiosity in his eyes.

Viewing the motel room as a new place to explore the little one toddled around, currently not really being watched by either of the adults in the room.

A fact that will henceforth be known as mistake number one.

The room wasn't very large but given the fact that it was occupied by the Winchesters that meant that there were some very dangerous things lying about. The little brown haired boy inevitably found a duffel bag filled with such things.

And the Winchesters realized that they should have been paying more attention when they heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

Both brothers' gazes immediately flew toward the sound, taking note of the toddler that was now holding a gun pointed in their general direction.

"Well shit…" Dean said as he locked his gaze on the gun.

"Dean, what's that loaded with?" Sam asked, really hoping that it had non-lethal ammunition. Or at least something that was going to be non-lethal to a human.

"That one's live," Dean said, giving his brother the worst case scenario news that on some level Sam had to have been expecting. Nothing went in their favor, ever, so there was no reason to be harboring any hope that things would be different in this instance.

"Great," Sam said with a groan. "So how do we convince a supernatural toddler not to shoot us?"

"Ask nicely?" Dean said with a shrug of his shoulders, turning his green eyes back to the kid in question as he spoke. His thoughts were sort of tumultuous for a moment but then he got a stern look on his face as he walked toward the kid, hoping as he did so that he wasn't about to get shot. "Give that to me right now little boy, that is not a toy," he said as he walked forward, his tone stern as he spoke to the child and he really hoped that this would work.

Because he did not want to get shot today.

The little boy seemed to study him as he started walking but when the man told him to hand over the toy that he'd picked up, adding that it wasn't in fact a toy, the little one was startled enough that he actually did hand over the gun when the man reached him and held out a hand for it.

"Thank you," Dean said once he had the gun in hand, the man blowing out a relieved sigh. "Maybe we can find you something to play with but this ain't it," he added, looking at Sam pointedly as he held out the gun and said, "Make sure this stuff is out of his reach, would ya?" After getting a nod of confirmation that his brother would do that Dean turned back to the kid, picking him up and this time balancing the little one on his hip. "How about some cartoons, huh? That might keep you occupied for five minutes," he suggested, carrying the boy over to a chair and depositing him in front of the television. Turning it on he realized belatedly what time it was but thankfully this place had on demand and not all of it was porn. Figuring that it didn't matter if they ordered it since the tab was being paid by a fraudulent credit card anyway Dean picked up the remote and found some cartoons for the kid, hoping that would keep him out of trouble.

That task completed he again looked at the ceiling. "We're waiting Cas!" he called out in a sort of impatient voice, really wishing that the angel would get his feathery ass down here and help them with their problem.

 **TBC….**


	2. Little Help Please

Ch. 2: Little Help Please

Sam watched as his brother first situated the child in front of the television, which ironically enough made him have flashbacks of his own childhood, and then yelled at the ceiling as though the angel that he was trying to summon was lurking overhead or something. "Dean, how often does that actually work?" Sam asked as he continued to gaze at his brother, knowing that Castiel would only come if he saw fit to, nothing that either of them could do would really hasten the process.

The angel was just quirky like that.

"Maybe he has some important angel stuff he has to do," the youngest Winchester added, not really sure what important stuff Castiel could be doing but he figured that he'd just toss that out there anyway. On the off chance that it would keep his brother from getting impatient and thus causing the situation to escalate.

Something that they really just didn't need right now.

"Cas this is not cool! I need help dammit!" Dean again said to the ceiling before looking over at his brother and acknowledging what Sam had to say about the situation. "It makes me feel better okay? Give me a break," he said, sighing in frustration and sitting down on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand up to trail through his short hair. At least he couldn't really mess up his hair this way and it did help him to relieve a little bit of his pent up frustrations.

After his fruitless efforts to get in touch with his angel friend Dean again looked over at the child, who seemed to be completely absorbed in the television. Almost as though he had never seen one before the man couldn't help but think to himself, which he thought was odd but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth nor was he going to complain about it.

"Hey Dean," Sam said after a moment, his gaze also going to the child. "You think maybe we should, I dunno, ask him what his name is?" He was thinking that the child most likely had one and it might help things if they knew what it was and could actually call the kid by it. Though as was seen earlier being called 'little boy' by Dean when he'd been scolding the kid over the gun seemed to have worked with him.

"Yea maybe," Dean said in a somewhat distracted voice, still a bit irked over the fact that Cas was a no show. It probably really would be good to get the kid's name, and he'd get to that eventually, but for the moment he was too focused on his internal rage directed at his best friend.

"Okay, I'll give it a try," Sam said when it became obvious that Dean wasn't currently in the mood to cooperate with his suggestion. Getting to his feet, since he'd ended up perching himself on the edge of one of the beds after his big brother dissolved the hostage situation from earlier, the younger Winchester made his way over to the chair where the toddler was currently sitting. The little boy was clearly engrossed in the cartoons that Dean had put on the television for him, his blue eyes almost transfixed in place, and Sam sort of chuckled at that one. "Hey kid," he called out, trying to gain the boy's attention so that he could ask the question.

The little boy was so focused on the program that he didn't notice at first that someone was talking to him but when he made that realization and then realized who it was that was talking to him he jumped. This guy was huge and for some reason the child found him intimidating despite the fact that he hadn't been scared of Dean, stranger or not.

"You got a name little man?" Sam asked the boy, having noticed the way that he jumped but he was just chalking that up to the kid being startled and not thinking much about it. "We don't wanna just keep calling you kid."

A whimper actually escaped the little guy's throat as he sort of curled away from Sam, his blue eyes wide and he looked as though he were on the verge of tears.

He was scared of this giant.

Sam seemed to notice that something was amiss when the child actually curled up into a ball on the chair, as far away from him as he could get, and just whimpered rather than answering his question. "Um Dean… I think he's afraid of me," Sam said, calling out to his brother and breaking into his internal rantings or whatever the hell it was that he was currently doing over there.

The sound of his brother's voice snapped Dean out of it and he immediately looked over in his brother's direction, paused for a second, and then started laughing his ass off. "That's great," Dean said as he continued to laugh, having some trouble believing that the kid was actually afraid of Sammy but for whatever reason it amused the hell out of him.

"Yea after you stop laughing I could use a little help over here," Sam said, listening as the kid whimpered again and tried to scoot farther away from him. It was pretty impossible for him to do but the little guy still tried, the brown haired boy curling up into a ball in a corner of the chair and just staring wide eyed at Sam.

"Okay okay," Dean said, pushing himself up to his feet and then making his way over to the chair where he had deposited the child earlier. Kneeling down he looked the kid in the eyes as he said, "Hey, you don't have to be afraid of Sammy over there, he isn't going to hurt you. He just looks tough, he's really a wuss." Dean grinned at his own words as he said that, more than amused by the situation even though he was trying to diffuse it.

The little boy looked up at Dean when he said that the giant wasn't going to hurt him, the toddler looking sort of skeptical but after a moment he nodded his head.

"Good, now that we've got that out of the way, what's your name?" Dean asked the little boy, keeping his green eyes focused on the child's baby blues as he waited for an answer. "You do have a name, right?" he added as something of an afterthought, not even sure if the kid would have one since he obviously wasn't human and he had been alone when he was found.

A quizzical look appeared on the child's face, the toddler going so far as to tilt his head to the side in a manner that was reminiscent of the way that a dog would do, as he studied Dean. "Crevan…" he said after a few moments, his voice whispery soft as he offered up the answer to the question.

"Is there a last name that goes along with that?" Dean asked, thinking that it was an odd name but he wasn't going to tell the kid that. And it wasn't as though his name was the oddest thing about him by far.

A moment of silence passed before the toddler shook his head in answer to the second question.

"No last name?" Sam questioned, thinking that was weird.

"Probably more likely that he doesn't know it," Dean said to his brother before looking back to the child. "Well Crevan it's nice to meet you. I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam, we're gonna be taking care of you for a little while."

That announcement only served to get another quizzical look from the child, as though he didn't have any idea what Dean was talking about. "Why?" Crevan asked after a moment, the toddler once again tilting his head to the side as he gazed up at Dean and then to the giant that had been introduced as Sam. This one was still someone that he was wary about but after being told that he wasn't going to be harmed he didn't seem to be outright scared of him anymore.

"Um…why, that's a good question," Dean said, not really prepared for that, he'd really been hoping that the kid would just accept it. No such luck apparently so now he was left to either explain something that he had no explanation for or else ignore it and hope that the kid forgot about it. "Because we're the good guys and that's what good guys do," he said after a moment, internally giving himself a pat on the back for pulling that one out of his ass.

Even Sam looked a tiny bit impressed.

Not that he was going to admit to that, the younger Winchester just shaking his head as he said, "Whenever you're done patting yourself on the back we need to figure out what we're gonna do about this," Sam said, making a gesture toward the toddler with his head when he said this so that Crevan hopefully wouldn't know that he was talking about the kid.

Not that this was much of an issue since Crevan's attention had drifted back to the cartoons at this point, the little boy once again squarely focused on the television. And once again looking for all the world as though this was the first time that he had ever seen cartoons.

"Yea just one sec," Dean said, actually going so far as to reach back and literally pat himself on the back before grinning at his brother. "Okay now I'm good, let's figure out what we're going to do," he said, still looking more than amused by this.

Standing up again Dean made his way back over to the bed and flopped back down, the man putting his hands on his knees and blowing out another breath. "Okay, so we have a supernatural baby on our hands and we need to figure out what to do with him," Dean said, actually having the good grace to keep his voice low so that the child wouldn't notice him. Not that this seemed likely given the way that he was staring at the television as though he were hypnotized by it.

"We also need to figure out what exactly we're dealing with," Sam pointed out, knowing that it was important that they figure out what it was that they were dealing with. Child or not there was obviously something supernatural going on and it would just be stupid not to know what was going on.

"Yea, we do, which is why it would be really helpful if Cas would friggin' answer me," Dean said, a bit of frustration slipping into his voice at this point. He could be patient when he needed to and obviously this was not as of yet a life or death situation but still he would have liked to be answered when he called out to the angel because it could have been a life or death thing.

"Yea well helpful or not until he does answer, if he answers, we're going to have to deal with this on our own," Sam pointed out, knowing that it would be easier if the angel answered but also knowing that they were on their own until he did and they couldn't just sit around and do nothing. "So we're going to have to do some research and try to figure out just what it is that we're dealing with." Sam paused at this point as he pondered something else that seemed to be a pressing issue. "There's also the small matter of making sure that the kid doesn't get into trouble, or cause any trouble… I think that job is gonna have to be yours since he doesn't much like me."

Dean was listening to what his brother was saying but he wasn't liking it too much.

"Sam I don't know what to do with him," Dean protested, not noticing that he had switched from calling Crevan an 'it' to using the proper pronoun.

"Dean you practically raised me, you can take care of him," Sam countered when his brother tried the whole I don't know what to do spiel. Of course he did realize that it wasn't the same thing, not really, but by the same token supernatural being or not the toddler was still a toddler and Sam was guessing that many of the same rules would apply.

"It wasn't the same," Dean said, sort of grasping at straws for how to get out of this.

But even as he spoke he did realize that he was going to lose this battle with his brother. Knew that Sam was probably the one better suited to be doing the research while he, he was the one that was better suited to watch after the tiny terror.

"It was more or less the same," Sam argued as he stared at this brother. "Look Dean, I don't see how we have a choice here. Someone's gotta keep an eye on him, he's scared of me and Cas won't pick up the phone so that leaves you."

"Don't lecture me," Dean almost snapped at his brother before he blew out a breath and then slapped his knees, giving up the fight as it were. "Fine, I'm on baby duty and you're in charge of figuring out what the hell we're dealing with."

"Right," Sam said before giving his brother a look. "And you need to watch your mouth, you're going to end up teaching him some more words that he shouldn't be using."

"Maaaan," Dean actually whined at his brother. Watching the kid was bad enough but watching his mouth? Oh that was way worse and was going to be a lot harder for him to manage. He'd never really been one to avoid using uncouth language so having to sensor himself around the kid was going to be its own brand of torture.

Not something that he was looking forward to.

"You'll live," Sam said as he got to his feet. "Now I'm going to go out and get some supplies, stuff the kid might eat, that kind of thing. I'm taking your car and I'll be back later." None of this was up for debate as far as Sam was concerned so after he finished speaking the younger Winchester grabbed the keys to the Impala and then proceeded to leave the motel room.

Leaving Dean alone with their little house guest.

"Well," Dean said as he gazed over at the child. "At least you're easy to deal with right now." He wasn't sure just how long that would last but he was going to take advantage of it for as long as it lasted. Because he knew that it was likely going to change sooner rather than later, his experiences with his little brother had taught him that much and he wasn't really expecting for Crevan to be any different in that regard.

"Hope he at least brings back some pie," Dean said as he flopped over on his back, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how the hell he'd ended up with a kid.

And somewhere in the back of his mind he was thinking, even against all sanity, that this might not be such a bad thing. Secretly he had a soft spot for kids, Lisa and Ben were proof of that, and by all outward appearances Crevan was completely alone in the world.

He needed someone.

That made the protective part of Dean want to rise to the challenge and be that someone that the kid could depend on. That someone that would take care of the child, nurture him and make sure that none of the bad things in the world would harm him. Ridiculous thoughts given that he didn't even know what this child was and yet Dean couldn't stop them from entering, unbidden, into his mind.

Family was everything after all and despite his self-loathing Dean inwardly yearned for a family.

He always had.

Groaning to himself Dean placed a hand on his face, wishing that this inner turmoil would go away already. He didn't have time to deal with it right now, he had other, more pressing, issues to contend with.

The television was indeed captivating but Crevan happened to look over and he noticed that Dean was lying on the bed with his hand over his face. Unsure if that meant that he was in distress the little boy clambered down from the chair and then toddled over to the bed, the little one having to work in order to climb onto the bed but he managed. Upon managing that Crevan crawled over to the man and placed a tiny hand on Dean's much larger one.

"Ish otay?" the little boy asked, sounding for all the world as though he were concerned about the man, his blue eyes looking down at the prone form on the bed.

Dean actually didn't even register the mattress dipping with the little guy's weight so he was startled when he first felt the little hand on the back of his own and then heard the question that Crevan asked. Slowly sliding his hand down his face the man's green eyes shifted to focus on the innocent baby blues of the toddler, a slight smile actually appearing on his face. "Yea kiddo, I'm fine," Dean said, not really feeling overly fine but he lied to the kid and said it anyway because he didn't want to worry him for whatever reason. "Just a little tired."

Sure it was a lie but he figured it didn't hurt anything and was better than the truth.

He couldn't very well tell the toddler that he was freaked out by the kid. That just wouldn't be nice and he wasn't out to be cruel to the child even if he wasn't human. He was still a child and while it may not have earlier in his life that actually meant something to Dean now, he was less shoot first and ask questions later than he'd been even a few years prior.

"Oh…shweep?" Crevan said, thinking that if the nice man was tired then he should sleep.

Dean smiled at the childish logic that the little one offered him in response to his little white lie he'd told about being tired. He thought that it was cute but he didn't tell the little one that and instead just wrapped an arm around the toddler, pulling him so that he was lying beside him on the bed. "Tell you what, how about we both take a nap? What do you say to that?" Dean asked, knowing that there was no way he was going to be able to sleep but he figured that it would help his situation if Crevan were to take a nap.

Kids liked naps, right?

"Nuh uh," Crevan said as he was pulled down and then asked about a nap, the little guy shaking his head and squirming.

"Course not…that woulda been too easy," Dean said, sort of shaking his head but he did release the child so that he could sit back up if he wanted. "Okay, nap's out, so what do you wanna do?" As he asked this question he focused his gaze on the child, wondering just what it was that this odd child might do for entertainment.

He just hoped that it wasn't anything dangerous or illegal.

Both of those would definitely be bad.

"Uuuum…" the little one said, drawing out the word as he looked around for a moment.

That indecision on the part of the child was causing Dean to worry more than a little bit, the man watching the child as he seemed to debate what answer he was going to give.

"T'at," Crevan finally said, the little guy pointing toward the television with one tiny finger, indicating that was what he wanted to do.

That was almost enough to make Dean giddy.

This kid was easy!

"TV? You wanna watch some more TV?" Dean asked, pushing himself up and once again scooping the child up into his arms, getting more and more used to it each time that he did it. "Let's watch some TV together while we wait for Uncle Sammy to come back from the store," he said, slipping in the 'Uncle Sammy' without really thinking about it.

"Yesh," the child confirmed with a nod of his head, the little guy squirming a bit as Dean picked him up.

"That's my boy," Dean said with a grin, sitting down on the chair and placing the child on his lap. Wrapping an arm around the little guy Dean focused his gaze on the television while Crevan did the same, a slight smile on his face which he didn't even seem to notice.

 **TBC…**

 **A/N: And there's chapter two out of the way, I'm on a bit of a roll with this. Hope you enjoyed, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.**


	3. Musings and Realizations

Ch. 3: Musings and Realizations

Sam wasn't really sure about whether or not leaving Dean alone with the child was a good idea but they didn't have anything to feed the kid or any other things that might prove essential so he didn't see that he had a choice in the matter. So he said that he was going to run to the store and then he beat a hasty retreat, taking the Impala and hoping that Dean didn't need it for anything but he figured that the man would have his hands full and wouldn't even think about leaving the motel room.

Not with the little guy there.

Driving down the road Sam couldn't help but think back to the way that his brother had looked with the child. He had been uncomfortable and clearly out of his element when he picked Crevan up, holding the little guy at arm's length and looking for all the world as though he had no idea what he was supposed to do with him.

A fact that just struck Sam as odd given that Dean had practically raised him.

Sure their dad had been there, some of the time, but he was a far cry from father of the year material and the brunt of the work had been left to Dean. And that was the way that it had been from Sam's earliest memories so the younger Winchester was thinking that his brother really should have had a bit more of a clue about the situation than he seemed to. Maybe it would all come back to him at some point or maybe he had just been winging it while he had to do it and had then promptly tossed out everything that he'd ever learned as he no longer needed it.

The former seemed more likely than the latter as far as Sam was concerned.

It was true that Dean had always played the part of the tough guy, the bad ass that didn't need anyone except his family and reveled in the life of a hunter. But Sam knew different. He knew that wasn't the person that his big brother really was on the inside. No, Dean was far more sensitive than he ever allowed anyone to know and the younger Winchester was thinking that maybe having the baby around might be good for his brother.

Assuming Crevan didn't end up killing them both.

The fact that they had taken in a supernatural child was something that Sam was not going to allow himself to forget. The little boy looked harmless enough but looks could be deceiving and Sam was not willing to risk their lives, well mainly his brother's life, based solely on looks. So he was going to be wary despite the fact that Crevan appeared to be a toddler, granted a toddler with some extraordinary powers, but a toddler none the less.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea what kids even need," Sam muttered to himself as he drove to the nearest Wal-Mart. That seemed like a likely place to get the things that he needed and some food that the child might eat all in one stop, Sam deciding that he'd stop on the way back and grab a pizza because absolutely everyone on the face of the planet liked pizza.

That was just the way that things worked.

Parking the Impala in a deserted part of the parking lot and praying that no runaway shopping carts collided with it Sam got out and made his way into the store. Grabbing a shopping cart and looking for all the world as though he had never been on a shopping trip in his life Sam made his way through the store. The young man went to the grocery section first, picking out a few things, mainly junk food, and tossing them into the cart before continuing on his way.

The food was the easy part, after securing that Sam wasn't quite sure where he should go next.

Standing there for a moment he contemplated his move as though he were planning something that was potentially dangerous, Sam looking around and then making his way to the baby section of the store. That was a whole new experience for Sam and again he looked completely and utterly lost. He also made the realization that these stores were not designed to have people of his size roaming around, the displays were too close together for him to be able to maneuver without bumping into things.

Which he kept doing and then he would look around to see if anyone was paying attention to his clumsy attempts at shopping.

"Dude…I'm the normal one," Sam said to himself in something of a chiding tone of voice, thinking that he should not be this awkward going to a damn Wal-Mart. Sure his upbringing had been weird but he had gone to college, he had lived a normal life for four years before the yellow eyed demon ruined that, so he should not be having this much trouble with things.

Maybe it was just the weirdness of shopping for a kid.

Yea that was the excuse that he decided to use.

"Okay…things for a toddler…things for a toddler," Sam muttered to himself as he pushed the shopping cart through the narrowly spaced aisles and clothing racks. It took far more thought than it really should have but Sam did get some clothes for the kid, mentally comparing the size of the kid to the clothes that he picked and hoping that they would fit or that they would at least be big so that he could still wear them. After getting the clothes, including some onesie pajamas for the little boy, Sam moved on through the baby section.

Now that he had secured food and clothing for the boy, the basic human needs, he was just roaming around and seeing if anything caught his eye. The more he walked through the baby department the less awkward he felt about the whole situation, his gaze shifting around and he ended up with a soft, fluffy blanket and a fox plush that he thought was cute. After that his gaze fell upon pacifiers and he thought about that one for a moment before he ended up grabbing one and tossing it in with the rest of the stuff.

Just in case.

Surveying the things that he had in the shopping cart Sam tried to think if there was anything else that they might potentially need for the boy. He couldn't help but think that this would be easier if he knew the boy's age and there was also the thought that knowing his species would help as well though naturally he didn't expect to find anything about raising supernatural offspring at the local Wal-Mart.

Walking back through the baby section Sam caught sight of diapers and he wondered briefly if the kid was potty trained or housebroken or whatever and he decided that might be a good thing to have around.

As another just in case.

Grabbing a box he tossed that in the shopping cart and decided that he had enough stuff for the moment, mentally patting himself on the back for figuring all this out as he made his way to the check out. Watching as the cashier scanned the stuff he nearly had a heart attack when he saw how much this stuff was, having to fight the urge to say out loud that he was glad he had a fraudulent credit card or else this would suck.

Babies were apparently expensive.

Managing to keep that thought to himself Sam just pulled one of the many credit cards from his wallet and swiped it, signing his name when prompted to do so, and then taking the bags and leaving. Making his way back to the Impala he walked a quick circle around it and then thanked the powers that be that the car was still the same as it had been when he'd left it. Because he really didn't want to deal with a pissed off Dean if something happened to his 'baby' as he called it.

Piling the bags in the backseat of the car Sam got in and with a roar the engine came to life, the younger Winchester going through his mental checklist once again.

"Okay…pizza…and maybe some beer," he said to himself, the beer obviously for himself and his brother rather than for the baby but he was thinking that after the stress of this day, or night rather, they deserved it. Finding a pizza joint that was open at this unholy hour of the morning was a difficult thing to do but not outright impossible and he did manage it, if just barely. Sam was pretty sure that the people running the place were pissed but they still gave him the pizza and he gave them a nice tip in return before heading back to the car.

After one last stop to pick up the booze Sam headed back to the motel that was currently home sweet home.

Sam wasn't quite sure how long he'd even been gone as he grabbed the pizza and booze out of the Impala, deciding that he could just come back out for the other stuff. It would be harder than hell for him to carry everything inside on his own and he was sort of in a hurry to get into the room to make sure that his brother was still alive and hadn't gone off the deep end or anything like that.

Surprisingly enough those were actually fairly typical concerns for the Winchesters.

So that, at least, wasn't the least bit out of the ordinary.

It was a bit of a struggle to get the door open and Sam was muttering some very choice words about his brother for not opening it for him though when he stepped into the motel room he immediately realized the reason for the lack of help. Both Dean and the little boy were sitting on the chair that Crevan had been sitting on earlier and while the television was still on neither of them were watching it.

Because both of them had fallen asleep.

Dean was holding the little boy on his lap with an arm around him and the child was resting his head against Dean's torso.

"Well…guess he didn't do too bad," Sam mused as he sort of stared at his brother and the sleeping child. This was weird to him and what was even weirder was the fact that Dean hadn't woken up when he came into the motel room. Usually Dean was a light sleeper, you sort of had to be in this line of work after all, but he didn't seem to have stirred despite the slight difficultly Sam had with wrestling the door open.

"Must have been really tired," the younger Winchester mused, setting the pizza and beer on the table and then heading out to the Impala so that he could get the rest of the stuff that he had bought. Leaving the door open as he did so of course because there was no way in hell he was going to try to wrestle it open with his arms filled with bags and all that. He would just have to hope that nothing decided to go in or that if it did Dean actually got his lazy ass up and did something about it.

Sam somehow managed to get everything into the motel room in one trip but it was a bit of a juggling act on his part.

"Dean you so owe me for this," he muttered as he deposited all of the bags beside the bed and then he pulled out the fluffy baby blanket that he had bought. Unfolding it he smiled slightly and used it to cover both Dean and the little boy that was being held in his embrace. Briefly he thought about being mean to his brother and sticking the pacifier in Dean's mouth and snapping a cellphone pic but after a moment he decided against that.

For whatever reason he decided that he was going to have mercy on his brother.

Despite the fact that Dean probably wouldn't have shown him the same courtesy.

"Okay…guess you guys are having cold pizza but I'm going to eat while it's still warm," Sam said, not sure why he was talking since both Dean and Crevan were currently asleep but he said it anyway. And after saying that he went over to the pizza and grabbed a slice, the man nibbling on it and getting a beer to wash it down with. After acquiring food he walked over and plopped down on the edge of the bed that he had claimed as his own, his gaze once again going to his brother as he ate the pizza.

And tried to figure out why it was that this scene, while weird, seemed as though it was right.

He still recalled how awkward Dean had looked when he had been holding the child at arm's length and yet now, only a few hours later, he was cuddling with the kid and had actually fallen asleep. It seemed that his big brother was taking to this like a natural.

Not that Sam was really all that surprised by this fact.

Family had always been the most important thing to Dean and while he tried to deny it a family of his own, meaning kids, was something that Sam knew he had always craved. If he hadn't been so devoted to the job then he may have found a family of his own but Dean couldn't tear himself away from hunting.

Even when it was something that he said he wanted to do.

Something always happened to prevent that.

Shifting slightly Crevan opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the soft blanket that he was covered with and the second thing was the fact that the giant had came back. Not quite as scared of the man as he had been before the little boy squirmed his way from beneath the blanket, actually taking great care to make sure that Dean remained covered, and then he toddled over to the spot where Sam was sitting.

Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye Sam watched as the child climbed down from Dean's lap and then made his way over.

"You want some?" he asked the boy, holding up the half eaten slice of pizza as he posed the question just so the kid would know what it was that he was even talking about.

"No," Crevan said as he stared at the pizza that was held up, the little guy making a face at it before looking back at Sam as though studying him.

"Okay…what do you want then?" Sam asked, noticing the look that appeared on the child's face and it seemed eerily serious for a child that young.

Dean had been woken by the child climbing from his lap but he didn't get up immediately and instead just waited to see what was going to happen between the child and Sam. Of course the smell of pizza was making his stomach rumble and that meant that he was very tempted to get up and probably would soon but for the moment he was content to feign sleep and just observe his brother and the child.

Crevan continued to stare at Sam when the giant asked him what he wanted.

But he didn't say anything.

A fact that made Sam sort of panic.

He wasn't sure if the kid was going to start freaking out on him at any given moment but the way that Crevan was staring at him definitely served to put him on edge. His gaze shifted from the kid to Dean and back again several times and it was while he was doing this that he noticed that his brother wasn't actually sleeping. Having been trained from a young age to be observant he could tell that Dean was faking it and he made a face in response to that.

"Hey Crevan, you wanna play a game?" Sam asked, getting a smirk on his face as he looked at his brother while at the same time speaking to the child.

Crevan's attention was snagged by that question and he nodded his head.

"Yesh," the little boy confirmed, looking interested.

Leaning down Sam whispered into the little boy's ear, smirking as the child turned to look at Dean for a split second before scampering over to the chair where the man was still sitting. It only took him a few moments to reach Dean and as soon as he did the child pounced on him, causing Dean to yelp and sit up immediately.

Which in turn caused Sam to point at him and laugh.

Hearing the laughter caused Dean to immediately look in the direction of his brother and he just shook his head. "You're responsible for that," he accused as he looked from his brother down to the grinning child that was currently looking at him with a grin on his face. "And you…" he said before scooping the child up and starting to tickle him.

Crevan gasped in surprise at first before starting to giggle in response when he realized what was going on.

Again Sam was forced to think about just how naturally his brother was taking to this as he watched the boy's reactions to what was going on. He opened his mouth to say something about it before changing his mind and just deciding that he'd let Dean figure that one out on his own.

He'd just deny it if Sam pointed it out to him anyway.

"Better come and get some pizza," Sam said while getting another slice for himself. "Kid said he didn't want any."

"Not want pizza? That's just wrong," Dean said, putting the little boy down and ruffling his hair before going over to the pizza box and grabbing a slice. "Thanks Sammy," he said after taking a bite, talking around the mouth full of pizza that he had but not caring.

"No problem," Sam said with a shrug. "I got some stuff for the kid too… wasn't sure what to get so I just winged it. Guess we'll find out later if he needs anything I didn't get."

"Guess so," Dean said, looking to the kid again and wondering for what had to be the hundredth time what was going on.

 **TBC…**


	4. A Little Hope

Ch. 4: A Little Hope

The pizza that the two adults were eating was of little interest to the brown haired toddler but catching sight of the bottles that both of them were nursing did serve to snag his attention. Crevan studied them for several long minutes with his baby blues intently on the bottles, the contents of which had to be good based on the reactions of the men, and then he looked around and noticed that there were more of them on the table.

"…mine," the little one murmured before toddling his way over to the table.

It took some acrobatic work on his part but he managed to grab one of the bottles before taking a tumble to the floor, which scared him more than it actually hurt. And even though he ended up falling the child still managed to hold onto the bottle that he had swiped, not spilling it since it wasn't open.

Dean looked over when he heard the noise and he could guess what had happened just by surveying the scene. "Whoa, are you okay Crevan?" he asked as he got to his feet and walked over to the child, kneeling down so that he was more on the little guy's level.

Crevan had recovered from the tumble pretty quickly and he was attempting to open the bottle that he had successfully acquired though he was having less luck with that than he'd had with getting it in the first place.

"Opens," the little guy said to Dean as he held out the bottle, fully expecting that the man would help him out with this.

"Oh no…nonono," Dean said with a shake of his head, reaching out and taking the bottle but he was pretty quick to set it out of Crevan's reach. "No we'll not be having any drunk babies stumbling around."

Crevan watched expectantly as Dean took the bottle but he teared up immediately when instead of opening it the man simply set it out of his reach. "Mine…" the toddler said, pointing toward the bottle insistently while at the same time looking at Dean with that teary look.

A look that melted Dean's heart and made him actually want to cave in.

But even he wasn't that irresponsible so there was no way that he was giving booze to a toddler.

"Sorry buddy but that's just for grown-ups," Dean told him, reaching over and scooping the child up in an attempt to stop any fussing on his part.

Crevan was having none of it.

The little guy pushed at Dean's chest with surprising force and as he did so his hands glowed a split second before Dean felt a sharp pain and reflexively released the child. "Agh! What the hell?!" he exclaimed, his gaze going to the child as Crevan squirmed away and then turned to look at him with that same upset look on his face.

Sam was on his feet the moment that his brother issued his exclamation, his eyes wide as he looked from Dean to Crevan. "Dean what's going on?" the younger Winchester asked as a wind seemed to suddenly whip around them from out of nowhere.

"What does it look like Sammy? Kid's having a supernatural temper tantrum," Dean said, having to raise his voice just so that his younger brother could hear him over the noise that was being created by the wind.

And all because he wouldn't give the kid a beer.

Briefly Dean wondered what exactly he was supposed to do about this since he didn't actually want to harm the child but at the same time he and Sam could end up getting hurt from the looks of things. Especially given the fact that the wind was currently tossing things around the room as though a mini hurricane had been unleashed or something.

"Crevan!" Dean said in the same stern tone that he'd used with the boy before, again having to raise his voice just so that the little terror could actually hear him. It didn't really have the same effect this time and the man actually had to duck as a beer bottle, the exact same beer bottle that the toddler had been fussing over before, went sailing over his head only to smash against the far wall.

"Dean do something!" Sam said, thinking that out of the two of them his brother was the one best equipped to handle this situation.

If only for the fact that Crevan seemed to have bonded to him.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Dean sort of snapped at his brother, giving Sam a look since it was obvious that he was trying to do something. It was equally as obvious that he wasn't having any luck with it and that fact was more than a little bit frustrating to him. "I don't know what to do! I don't wanna hurt the kid and we don't even know what he is!"

Sam opened his mouth to say something but was silenced when he had to duck more flying debris that was being tossed around by the wind.

Dean's eyes sort of flashed at that point and he took a few steps toward the child but then he heard what sounded like a whooshing of wings and the wind abruptly died down. The noise was familiar and Dean looked around to see Castiel standing between Crevan and himself and Sam.

"Dean…" the angel said in that infuriatingly nonchalant tone that he always managed no matter the situation.

"Seriously? You show up NOW after I've been calling you for hours?" Dean demanded as he looked at the angel though his gaze shifted again when he heard the sound of little footsteps. His green eyes shifted to Crevan and he watched as the child scampered away from the group and ended up sort of huddling in a corner.

This was even more extreme than the child's reaction to Sam and that caused the elder Winchester to look back to the angel of the Lord. "Cas you scared him," Dean pointed out needlessly before gesturing toward the child. "That's the reason I was calling you… we found him and we don't exactly know what he is but he has healing powers…"

"He is Hope," Castiel said simply when Dean pointed out that neither he nor Sam knew who or what the child was. His gaze shifted in the direction of the cowering child and he was admittedly a little surprised by the way that the child was reacting to him.

And even more surprised to see him there with the Winchesters in the first place.

"What?" Dean said when he heard what Castiel had to say about the boy, a clearly confused and questioning look appearing in his eyes. "Dude, you're not making sense so you mind running that by me one more time? Maybe with a little more detail?"

"The child is one of what we call the Seven Heavenly Virtues," Castiel said, speaking as though he were trying to explain something very complicated to a very small child. "As one would expect there are seven in total and they are the embodiment of the virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance and Prudence. As I said before this child is the Virtue of Hope."

"Okay…that's weird," Dean said with a shake of his head before once again focusing on the obvious fact that the child seemed terrified of Castiel. "So why, if this kid is heavenly anything, is he scared of you? I mean you're a friggin' angel."

"I believe that is most likely a direct result of his caretaker," Castiel replied, his gaze going to the boy that was still occupying space in the corner of the room and staring at him with wide, terror filled eyes. "Each of the virtues are Nephilim, born of a human mother and an angelic father, and they are given over to an angelic guardian to be raised and taught to use their gifts."

"Whoa, whoa hold it," Dean said, holding up his hands and trying his best to absorb everything that was being said in this moment. "So that kid, Crevan, he's half angel?"

"Technically speaking however his powers will be greater than my own," Castiel said, still having that blunt and matter of fact way of speaking as he said this. It didn't seem as though he was concerned with the fact that the powers of a toddler were going to trump his own. "Which is why he needs training and why we need to return him to his mentor."

"No," Dean said, this time his voice taking on that blunt, matter of fact tone.

"Excuse me?" Castiel said as he turned around again to look at the hunter, taking note of the look of determination that was on the elder Winchester's face.

"Just what I said, no," Dean repeated, his jaw set. "Look I don't know anything about these virtues or whatever the hell they are but I do know that if the kid is this terrified of you then I'm not just gonna hand him back over to the one that caused it in the first place. No, we're keeping him until I figure out just what the hell is going on here."

"Dean that is not a good idea," Castiel felt the need to tell him, though why he bothered was anyone's guess since the Winchesters were both notoriously stubborn and rarely took his advice.

And they never listened.

Ever.

"Yea well when is anything we do a good idea?" Dean countered with a shrug of his shoulders. After saying that he turned and made his way over to the spot where Crevan was cowering, the man leaning down and scooping the boy up to hold in his arms. "Hey, it's okay Crev, you don't have to be scared of Cas, he's not gonna hurt you," he said to the child, his voice taking on a softer tone. And as he spoke he gently lifted the child up to hold in his arms, not even noticing just how more natural the motion was to him now than it had been when he and Sam had first found Crevan. "And no one else is going to either or else I swear I'll break out the holy oil and we'll have ourselves a barbeque."

The revelations that were coming from Castiel were definitely ominous to be sure and Sam just stood by and listened, making mental notes and then listening as his brother predictably put his head into the figurative noose. Not that he was the least bit surprised by this, that was pretty par for the course for them, but in this instance he had mixed feelings on the matter. He didn't like the thought of handing the kid over to someone that had terrified him but by the same token neither did he like the idea of going up against angels.

Because that just never worked out well for them.

"Dean," Castiel said in what could only be described as a scolding voice when he heard the eldest Winchester saying that they would barbeque any angel that attempted to hurt the little Virtue. There was a clearly displeased look on his face as he gazed at the man, not liking that plan of action, which was obvious.

"Cas," Dean said as he gazed at the angel. "There is no reason why anyone should be terrifying a baby, I don't care what kind of baby he is…"

Castiel shook his head in response to those words. "Once again you fail to realize just what it is that you're dealing with and you're jumping to conclusions. The virtues are vitally important and they have to be raised with certain…standards in mind. Because they are literally linked to the virtue that they represent," the angel attempted to explain though he doubted that his words were really going to have much of an effect on the stubborn hunter.

"Cas… you say that like you expect me to care… I mean seriously when has that ever mattered?" Dean said with a shake of his head, not thinking that this had any bearing on the point that he had made. He didn't care what sort of big plans the angels or anyone else had for the child, as far as he was concerned the fact still remained that it was a child and he was serious about making sure that nothing happened to the little guy.

"…we apparently adopted a kid and I'm not even sure how this happened," Sam said as he looked at his brother.

"Don't try to make sense of it Sammy, just don't," Dean said with a shake of his head, his arm still protectively around the child that he was balancing on his hip.

Crevan ended up clinging to Dean the instant that he was picked up but he was keeping his blue eyes focused on Castiel as though thinking that the angel was going to do something. His gaze never left him and he pointed a tiny finger at Castiel as he said, "Baaaaaaad." The little one ended up dragging out the word as though trying to put emphasis on it while at the same time tugging on Dean's shirt in the hopes of getting the man to put some distance between them.

Clearly despite the earlier reassurance the little one was still viewing Castiel as a threat.

"Guess we found someone he's more scared of than you Samsquatch," Dean said as he looked at the child that was tugging on his shirt. "It's okay Crev, Cas is my friend and he's not going to hurt you." After saying that he gave Castiel a pointed look as he asked, "Right Cas?" There was a prompting tone to his voice as he said this, Dean hoping that the sometimes clueless angel would get it and offer up the answer that he was looking for.

Not that he really expected it to work out that way since it never worked out that way.

Hence why he kept calling Castiel a baby in a trench coat.

"No, I am not going to harm him…" Castiel said in response to the prompting however there was something about his tone that made it clear there was an inescapable 'but' in that statement. "There are however others that might harm all of us if they find out that he's here." For that matter Castiel was still trying to figure out exactly why the child was here in the first place, it didn't make sense to the angel. His caretaker should have been guarding him much better than this, the Virtues were given high ranking guardians. "This is going to turn out badly."

"Yea so what else is new?" Dean said with a shrug, pretty used to things turning out badly at this point, that was just the way that life went for them.

Crevan was starting to calm down a little at this point and while he was still eying the angel with a wary look the child had stopped pointing and was now just resting his head against Dean's shoulder. This man represented safety in his mind and while it was unclear just why it was that the little one had formed such an immediate bond to the elder Winchester it was visibly clear that he had. Crevan was once again gripping Dean's shirt as he rested against the man's shoulder, appearing to have worn himself out with his earlier tantrum.

"Sleepy?" Dean asked the child that he was holding.

"No," came the predictable answer that one would expect from any child.

"Yes you are," Dean said with a chuckle, rubbing the little one's back.

Watching the exchange between his brother and the child Sam couldn't help but chuckle as well, the younger Winchester going over to the bags that he had discarded upon returning to the motel room. Once he reached them he knelt down and started looking through them, pulling out a pair of pajamas as well as the plush fox that he had purchased. "Dean," he said to get his brother's attention, placing the items on the bed and then looking back at the bags for a moment before producing a diaper as well. "Not sure if he needs it but got it anyway," he said by way of explanation as he placed that near the other things, producing the pacifier as well.

And while he didn't offer the same explanation as he had for the diaper he figured it was implied.

"Wow Sammy, you'll make a good mommy someday," Dean said with a smirk as he carried Crevan over to the bed. "Alright Crev, let's get you ready for bed," he said to the child, giving him a look as he did so in the hopes of forestalling any whining. "Be a good boy and we can watch some more TV," he offered as a bribe, taking the fox plush and handing it to the child.

"Good…" Crevan repeated as he gazed at Dean, the little guy taking the toy fox that he was handed and snuggling it against his chest. "…soft."

Dean smiled slightly as the boy was distracted by the toy that he had been given. Using that to his advantage he got the kid undressed and then attempted to redress him. The diaper was a bit of a challenge but he managed after some struggles, the man shooting his brother a dirty look in response to Sam laughing at him. After getting that taken care of he had a somewhat easier time with the onesie pajamas, the man getting the little guy's somewhat flailing limbs into the sleeper and then zipping it up.

"There," he said, sounding a little out of breath. "And no one got hurt."

"You sound so proud of yourself Dean," Sam commented as he smirked at his brother.

"Shut up," Dean told his brother as he once again scooped Crevan up into his arms. "Okay… you were good so TV," he said, walking over to the chair and sitting down. Once he'd settled Crevan on his lap the elder Winchester turned to his brother as he said, "You should probably crash… cause we're gonna have to figure out what's going on…and trouble's probably gonna find us sooner rather than later."

"Right," Sam said, knowing his brother had a point.

"And Cas," Dean said, turning his attention to his angelic friend. Or at least that was what he was trying to do but it was only to realize that Castiel was already gone. "I friggin' hate it when he does that," Dean complained with a shake of his head before grabbing the baby blanket and covering both himself and Crevan with it.

Settling down Dean again wondered just what it was that he'd gotten them into this time but as he looked at the child that was snuggling with him he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, something good would come out of it this time.

Wishful thinking on his part, he knew somewhere in the back of his mind, and yet he was still able to find that hope.

Hope…

 **TBC…**

 **A/N: End of another chapter, hope that you enjoyed. I'd greatly appreciate it if you left me a review. Thanks for reading.**


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